Toil and Trouble - CH1 Unforgivable
by zinkyre
Summary: The start of the journey that the Sanderson sisters take from being Hogwarts students to being burned at the stake in Salem, MA.
Sarah opened her eyes to stare at the black, green, and silver canopy hanging over her four-poster. A moment after she awoke, the candles around the dungeon chamber flickered to life. Normally when people wake up in dungeons they scream but, this was no ordinary dungeon, it was a bedroom. A bedroom in the most prestigious school for witchcraft and wizardry in all of England. Hogwarts.

She and three other girls began stirring under their blankets. The curtains were still drawn but she could hear them tossing as the light found its way through gaps in the swaying fabric. Despite being underground, a fresh breeze found its way in from somewhere else in the castle.

She tried to roll over and go back to sleep but someone had opened their trunk with a loud _thud_ and was throwing school supplies around. Sarah cursed under her breath and threw her curtains open with a flick of her wand. She always had her wand, especially while sleeping.

"Do you have to be so loud Vix?" Sarah said with a sneer, kicking the lid of her own trunk open with (what the other girls thought but would never say) a louder thud of wood and metal. "I have it in my mind to hex you."

"I'm sorry Sarah." Vix said without an ounce of apology.

Sarah sneered again. "You _will_ be sorry. Do you have any idea whose blood runs through my veins?"

"Sly-"

"That's right! Salazar Slytherin!" Sarah cast a protective charm around herself and turned away haughtily to change into her robes. Vix and the other girls chose this opportunity to escape to the common room and out of Sarah's grasp.

Sarah smiled at herself, basking in the glory of her power. They were afraid of her and she loved it. She walked through the common room, an impressive space with black and green tiles, without a sideways glance, exuberating a palpable aura of disdain and superiority.

However, as soon as she reached the hourglasses next to the great oak front doors, the smile was wiped off her face when she saw her round, slack-jawed, and black-haired sister waiting for her.

"Sarah!" Her sister bounded forward.

"Don't talk to me Mary!" Sarah tried to walk past her but she was not that easy to shun. "It's embarrassing having a sister in _Hufflepuff!_ Of all houses! I could at least accept Ravenclaw but, let's face it, you never had a chance anywhere else. Why are you bothering me?"

"You haven't been fighting again have you?" Mary shook her head and tutted. "You're always meaner after a fight."

Sarah stopped before entering the Great Hall, the smile returned to her face. "They're too afraid to fight me. No, I put them in their rightful place."

"But aren't all the girls in Slytherin pureblood?"

"Yessss" Sarah tried to sound like she was speaking in Parseltongue. "But you ssssseeee we are the heirsss of Sssslytherin…"

Mary twisted her face in concentration. "I think you made that up."

Sarah looked accosted. "How dare you!"

"You said it one day and now you want it to be true so bad that you're actually believing your own lie-"

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Sarah stalked into the Great Hall and assumed her lonesome seat at the Slytherin table.

Mary plugged solemnly to the Hufflepuff table where her friends immediately tried cheering her up with charms.

"I'll show them." Sarah said under her breath. "I'll show them _all_."

Her first class of the day was, regrettably, Charms. She walked with her head down, deeply troubled with the fact that her own sister doubted her superiority. She took a shortcut through a tapestry and slipped into the charms classroom unnoticed for the most part.

Most of her fellow students cared only about gossip and school work, they didn't take her seriously either, they just chatted away to each other about who was courting whom and Quidditch. It sickened her.

"Settle down." Professor Biggs said perched on top of her desk like an owl, her spectacles magnifying her great brown eyes and her hair fanned out at odd angles. "Good. Now, does everyone have their rats?"

Everyone produced a rat from thin air onto their desks, everyone except Sarah Sanderson who was still gazing distantly at the dull swirling woodgrain, lost in her own thoughts.

"Everyone?" Professor Biggs said again, clearly aware that Sarah had not moved. "Miss Sanderson, would you like to join us or is that desk more interesting than my lesson?"

Sarah heard snickering and looked up to see Mary giggling with her small group of friends. Mary quieted and looked ashamed that she had been laughing at her sister.

" _Well?_ " Professor Biggs insisted.

"Do you know who I am?" Sarah's tone was so severe, so serious, that all of the snickering stopped instantly. She felt anger bubble up from the depths of her gut. Anger so strong that it became rage. The rage took over completely and what little restraint Sarah had left, seeped from her like a memory pulled out for use in a pensieve.

"Of course-"

Sarah rolled her wand idly in her left hand, the rage calming her, resoluting her. "I am the HEIR OF SLYTHERIN!"

"There's no need to shout-"

"ALL OF YOU WILL KNOW MY POWER!"

To Mary, it seemed as if time had slowed to a stop. She watched as Sarah raised her wand in an exaggeratedly slow but fluid movement and pointed it at Professor Biggs. They stared at each other for a moment, Sarah glaring maniacally. The professor surprised and outraged that a student was brandishing a wand at a professor.

"How _dare_ you threaten a teacher-"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The class stood as a unit and backed towards the walls. They watched helplessly as green light struck Professor Biggs squarely in the face. She flew over backwards, smashing into a pile of papers and crashing onto the floor.

A few moments later, Sarah felt the rage subside and began to realize what she had just done. "Oh no."

Mary, who was not usually a person of action, looked apologetically at her friends before running across the room.

She seized Sarah's arm. "Run!"

"Where are we going?!" Sarah asked, panting from the effort of sprinting from the classroom, down the spiral staircase, out of the great oak doors, and down the front lawn.

"The Forbidden Forest! Hurry!" Mary panted as well, being much larger than her sister, it was very difficult to keep up.

"We can't go in there!" Sarah pined. "It's forbidden!"

"I hardly think centaurs and unicorns are our biggest worry right now!" Mary pushed Sarah hard in the back to keep her going into the darkness of the woods. They ran silently for the next five minutes until they came to a clearing to catch their breath. When Mary could breathe again she worked up the courage to ask. "Why did you do that?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?!" Mary shook her head incredulously and pushed them both along at a brisk walking pace. "You're sorry? That was an _unforgivable curse_ Sarah! _Unforgivable!_ You'll be going to Azkaban for sure after they snap your wand!"

Sarah looked panicked, her white greasy hair was plastered onto her face in sweat, and her eyes darted back and forth under a heavily-furrowed brow. "The dementors?"

"Aye." Mary said. They continued walking again in more silence.

Sarah felt like there was a stone in the pit of her stomach. What had come over her? Why did she react so harshly, so viciously? Yes it was important that she be respected and feared but this action completely destroyed all of her efforts and subtle manipulation. Why did she throw all of it away? What were they going to do now?

"I deserve the dementor's kiss…"

"Shhh" Mary motioned for them to get lower. It was dark despite being mid-morning. She eyed the dark canopy above while lighting her wand. "Lumos."

Sarah heard something on the other side of a giant root in front of them. "What is it?"

"Thestrals!" Mary said excitedly but instantly felt ashamed. The only reason she would be able to see a thestral now is because of the murder her sister had just committed. She pushed the thoughts aside, she had to help her sister no matter what.

"We can see them now!" Sarah said running around the root.

"Don't! You'll startle them!"

But it was not a thestral. An auburn mare turned her head to meet their gaze. They had heard about female centaurs from books and knew they were rare and dangerous. They hunted and preyed on the souls of men. Men, not women.

Sarah felt they would be safe so she stepped forward. "My name is Sarah Sanderson, heir of Salazar Slytherin, can you tell us where the thestrals are?"

"Sarah-"

"It's fine-"

The mare reared up and screamed. It was a powerful sound that reverberated in their chests and vibrated the space between their eyes. They were disoriented for a moment before Mary raised her wand and cast a protective charm around them.

"Run!" Mary urged.

Sarah didn't hesitate, they ran perpendicular to the castle now, barreling through the woods without stopping.

"Umph!" Sarah had run straight into a black, leathery mass. Mary followed soon after and they toppled together with the creature.

"A thestral!" Mary exclaimed and immediately climbed on top of it.

"It's only a baby!"

"It's okay, they can carry a tremendous burden!" Mary beckoned for Sarah to jump onto the struggling flying horse.

"I don't know-" the sound of a plucked bow string came from her left. She instinctively raised her wand and performed a protective charm just in time. An arrow bounced off of an invisible barrier next to her face.

She had no choice now, she leapt onto the back of the thestral, grabbed onto Mary as tight as possible and smacked its rear.

It flapped its ugly skeletal wings and took flight. They were above the trees in an instant, the power of the little creature amazed her.

Mary whispered into the thestral's ear. Sarah assumed she was telling it where to go.

"Tell it I said 'thank you.'" Sarah yelled over the rushing wind.

"I already did!"


End file.
